The value of private equity deals agreed in the first half of the year in the West Midlands is less than a tenth of this stage last year.

New data shows three PE-backed deals worth a combined £22 million were done in the second quarter – after an entirely barren first three months – leaving the total well short of the seven deals worth £265 million agreed in the first half of 2012,

The number of IPOs across the country fell from 117 worth £8.6 billion at this stage last year to 81 deals worth £6 billion this.

The PE-backed deal agreed in the West Midlands this year was the management buyout of Warwick-based Rivo Software.

However, experts said the level of activity belied the data.

John Houlden, transaction support partner for Ernst & Young in the Midlands said: “These low levels of buyout activity are not reflective of what we are seeing in the market place in terms of the pipeline and deals in progress, so we do expect to see a pick-up in activity towards the end of the year.”

The research came from the entre for Management Buyout Research at Imperial College sponsored by EY and Equistone Partners Europe.

It showed the value of exits totalled £8 billion at the half way point of this year, an increase from £5.8 billion in 2012.